DP
Abbreviation with 8 meanings
| Stands for | DisplayPort |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 8 |
| Categories | Technology & Computing, Texting & Internet Slang, Arts & Entertainment, Medical, Sports |
DP has eight meanings. The most common are DisplayPort (computer hardware) and Display picture (social media); it can also stand for Director of photography, Dorsalis pedis (artery or pulse), Dynamic programming, Dear partner and Double play, plus 1 more listed below.
Meanings of DP at a glance
| # | DP stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DisplayPort | Technology & Computing › Computer Hardware |
| 2 | Display picture | Texting & Internet Slang › Social Media |
| 3 | Director of photography | Arts & Entertainment › Film, Television and Theater |
| 4 | Dorsalis pedis (artery or pulse) | Medical › Anatomy |
| 5 | Dynamic programming | Technology & Computing › Programming |
| 6 | Dear partner | Texting & Internet Slang › Parenting Forum |
| 7 | Double play | Sports › Baseball |
| 8 | Data processing | Technology & Computing › Computer |
1. DisplayPort
Technology & Computing · Computer Hardware Abbreviations
Royalty-free digital display interface from the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), standard on PC monitors and graphics cards. It supports high refresh rates, adaptive sync and daisy-chaining several monitors from one port.
Example: The 240 Hz monitor needs a DP cable; its HDMI input tops out at 144 Hz.
VESA approved DisplayPort 1.0 in 2006. Version 1.2 added Multi-Stream Transport (MST) for daisy-chaining, 1.4 added Display Stream Compression and DP 2.0/2.1 raised bandwidth to as much as 80 Gbit/s. "DP Alt Mode" sends DisplayPort over USB-C, which is how most laptops drive external screens. Apple introduced the smaller Mini DisplayPort in 2008. Full-size DP plugs usually latch, so press the button to remove them.
2. Display picture
Texting & Internet Slang · Social Media Abbreviations
Profile picture on WhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger and other apps, a term especially common in South Asian, Nigerian and other non-American varieties of English.
Example: Love your new DP, where was that sunset photo taken?
Particularly common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria, where "changing your DP" is everyday talk. Equivalent to PFP (profile picture). On parenting forums DP means "dear partner," an unrelated sense.
3. Director of photography
Arts & Entertainment · Film, Television and Theater Abbreviations
Head of the camera and lighting departments on a film or TV production, responsible for the visual look of each shot, working closely with the director. Also called the cinematographer.
Example: The DP shot the entire film on 35 mm with natural light where possible.
British credits often use DoP. Members of the American Society of Cinematographers add "ASC" after their names in credits, and British members "BSC". Roger Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki and Hoyte van Hoytema are well-known DPs.
4. Dorsalis pedis (artery or pulse)
Medical · Anatomy Abbreviations
Artery on the top of the foot, a continuation of the anterior tibial artery, whose pulse is felt just lateral to the extensor hallucis longus tendon. It is checked together with the posterior tibial pulse to judge blood flow to the feet.
Example: Faint DP pulses bilaterally; ABI ordered given calf claudication.
The DP pulse is congenitally absent or hard to find in a small percentage of healthy people, so one missing pulse is interpreted alongside other findings. Diabetic foot screening combines pulses, monofilament sensation testing and skin inspection. The artery continues into the first web space to join the plantar arch.
5. Dynamic programming
Technology & Computing · Programming Abbreviations
An algorithm design technique that solves problems by breaking them into overlapping subproblems and storing each answer so it is computed only once, either top-down with memoization or bottom-up in a table. Shortest paths, knapsack and edit distance are classic DP problems.
Example: The naive recursion takes minutes, but the DP version fills a table in milliseconds.
Richard Bellman developed the method in the 1950s and said he chose the name partly because "dynamic" sounded impressive and disguised mathematical research from a skeptical government sponsor. DP questions are notorious in technical interviews. In older IT usage DP can also mean data processing.
6. Dear partner
Texting & Internet Slang · Parenting Forum Abbreviations
Gender-neutral code for the poster's unmarried or long-term partner, widely used on UK forums such as Mumsnet. It covers boyfriends, girlfriends and same-sex partners alike.
Example: DP and I have been together twelve years but never felt the need to marry.
Preferred by many couples who are not married or who want to avoid assumptions about gender. In social media, DP means "display picture," and in photography "depth of field" is DoF, not DP, so the forum context is distinctive.
7. Double play
Sports · Baseball Abbreviations
Defensive play that records two outs in one continuous action, such as the 6-4-3 grounder from shortstop to second baseman to first baseman. Turning double plays is a key infield skill.
Example: A slick 6-4-3 DP ended the inning with the bases loaded.
Double plays are written by position numbers in the order the ball was handled. The Chicago Cubs infield of Tinker to Evers to Chance inspired a famous 1910 poem. Triple plays (TP) are much rarer, happening only a handful of times a season.
8. Data processing
Technology & Computing · Computer Abbreviations
Older business term for using computers to handle records such as payroll, billing and inventory, as in "DP department" or "DP manager". It survives in legacy job titles and in EDP, electronic data processing.
Example: In 1975 the DP department ran payroll on the mainframe every Thursday night.
Data processing was the usual name for corporate computing from the punched-card era through the 1970s, before "information systems" and "information technology" took over. In EU privacy law, processing personal data has a specific legal meaning under the GDPR. In computer hardware, DP almost always means DisplayPort.
Related abbreviations
More computer hardware abbreviations
- dGPU – Discrete graphics processing unit
- DIMM – Dual inline memory module
- DLSS – Deep Learning Super Sampling
- DMA – Direct memory access
- dpi – Dots per inch
- DRAM – Dynamic random-access memory
- DVD-R – Digital Versatile Disc Recordable
- DVD-ROM – Digital Versatile Disc Read-Only Memory
See all 151 computer hardware abbreviations →
More social media abbreviations
- DAE – Does anyone else...?
- DITL – Day in the life
- DM – Direct message
- DNI – Do not interact
- DYK – Did you know?
- DYOR – Do your own research
- ELI5 – Explain like I'm 5
- ESH – Everyone sucks here
See all 106 social media abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.